AP reports on a young boy being mauled by a lion in Gaza.
A Palestinian boy was mauled to death by a lion in a private zoo in the Gaza Strip on Monday, according to the coastal territory’s police force, run by the militant Hamas group.
Police officers said 6-year-old Hamada Iqtiet had climbed the fence in the zoo in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, and reached an opening in the cage before the lion mauled him. An investigation was underway, they said.
The boy’s family disputed the account, saying Hamada — who was visiting the Asdaa Park with his mother and other family members, according to relatives — had only reached an outer fence, where the lion was standing, when he was attacked.
It was the first known fatality from animals kept at private zoos in the crowded and impoverished Palestinian territory. Gaza has several small private zoos where animals are kept in deplorable conditions.
In terms of the reporting of this horrible tragedy, the report so far almost sticks entirely to the facts. But the mention of “crowded and impoverished Palestinian territory” seems extraneous, and is a hint of the paragraph to come:
The animals have suffered from repeated fighting between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers, neglect, starvation and lack of medical care. International animal welfare groups have carried out several missions to evacuate animals, especially lions, to safe havens in Jordan and Africa.
Israel has absolutely nothing to do with this tragedy, yet AP throw in some blame. And it’s not the first time AP have used lions to rip into Israel.
In fact, it is almost as if AP are painting the lion as only responding to the poor conditions he faced. Hmmm, where have we heard that narrative before?
Meanwhile, the haters who over the past days have read into a crow attacking an Israeli flag are strangely quiet about this.
